CMS moves forward with initiative to coordinate Medicare primary care

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Innovation Center will administer the program, which was created by the 2010 health law. Five hundred medical practices have been selected to participate.

The Hill: Medicare Improved Project Linked To Health Law Takes Next Step
Federal health officials are moving forward with a plan to reward health care providers that improve services for Medicare patients. The four-year project will be administered by the Medicare agency's Innovation Center, a creation of the 2010 health care law that seeks to reduce costs and improve health care delivery. The center's latest effort aims to foster well coordinated primary care within Medicare. The Medicare agency announced that it has selected the 500 medical practices that will participate. They will receive about $20 per beneficiary per month in exchange for providing new services (Viebeck, 8/22).

The Associated Press: Clinics Get Incentive To Improve Health Care
A federal initiative will give a handful of primary care clinics in Salem a financial incentive for proving more coordinated and better quality health care to Medicare patients. Four Salem clinic locations have been selected to participate in the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, a four-year program administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Wong,  8/22).

Politico Pro: Primary Care Initiative Targets Medicare Costs
CMS will spend $300 million over 3 1/2 years to pay primary care practices an extra fee for managing Medicare patients, an effort to lower costs and improve care for more than 300,000 beneficiaries nationwide. The CMS Innovation Center announced on Wednesday the 500 practices in seven regions that will participate in its Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative. The effort also engaged Medicaid plans and private insurers to enhance payments and reach "hundreds of thousands" of other patients beyond the Medicare population, Innovation Center Director Richard Gilfillan said in a conference call with reporters (Norman, 8/22).